Overheard At PAX: ‘Outlast’ Is The New ‘Amnesia’

That’s a tall order, comparing Red Barrels’ upcoming survival horror game Outlast to what many consider to be the scariest game of all time. Sadly, we weren’t able to attend PAX this year, even though we really, really wanted to. That means we missed out on the first public demo for Outlast, a game that aims to continue the increasingly popular trend of throwing the player in a dangerous environment unarmed. More horror games are taking this idea and running with it, including Daylight, Slender: The Arrival, Huntsman: The Orphanage, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs, and so many more.

That’s not the only trend I noticed. Of the sites that were able to get their hands on the game, many of them compared Outlast to Amnesia: The Dark Descent — some even going so far as to say it’s even scarier. More after the break.

“With survival horror it’s all about the execution, and whilst Outlast’s premise of possible corporate experiments gone wrong in a former asylum feels familiar, the execution is what matters. At one point I jumped backwards so suddenly I almost flung the mouse off the desk.”
Alasdair Duncan – Destructoid

“In a manner similar to Amnesia, the fear is much more focused on surviving and hiding rather than confronting the creatures. Its atmosphere and scripted scares did a fantastic job of making me legitimately rattled, and it should be perfect for some late night gaming sessions in the dark”
Dan Ryckert – Game Informer